Among the aerospace industry's most legendary projects, Hubble Space Telescope came out on top of a Lockheed Martin tournament-style competition among the public to vote on Facebook for the "ultimate innovation" during the company's history.

Approximately 32 projects from Lockheed Martin's 100-year history were featured in the tournament, which was part of the corporation's year-long centennial commemoration.

Other contenders included the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, Mars Phoenix Lander, the F-35 fighter, the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), the P-38 Lightning fighter and the Littoral Combat ship.

"The history of the universe is written in starlight, and the Hubble Space Telescope has recorded much of that history," said former STScI staff engineer Jim Crocker, vice president of Civil Space at Lockheed Martin. While at STScI Crocker worked on developing the COSTAR optical assembly that restored sharp vision to Hubble's first-generation science instruments by correcting blurry images from the telescope’s misformed primary mirror.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif. was selected by NASA in 1977 to design and build the spacecraft and provide spacecraft systems integration. Since the 1990 launch, Lockheed Martin personnel in Sunnyvale, and at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., have helped NASA manage the day-to-day spacecraft operations of the telescope, and provided extensive preparation and training for the telescope servicing missions*.